Help prevent famine with WFP’s 'ShareTheMeal' App during Ramadan

By

Wam

PublishedThursday, May 25, 2017

To mark the Holy Month of Ramadan this year, ShareTheMeal, the official app of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), is launching two simultaneous fundraising campaigns -- one to help prevent famine in Yemen and another supporting Syrian refugee children and needy Lebanese children in Lebanon.

Ramadan is a time when families around the world share meals together. With ShareTheMeal, users have the opportunity to provide vital food and to help others share moments of joy and togetherness.

"Through ShareTheMeal, everyone in the global community can make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Yemen and Lebanon," said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. "What we all do together truly does save lives and change lives, step by step."

WFP is funded entirely by contributions from governments, companies and individuals. This year for the first time, ShareTheMeal for Ramadan has a function giving users the power to choose where to send their donation. The first two countries to be included are Yemen and Lebanon.

With the app, users can share vital food and nutrition with hungry communities around the world by simply tapping on their smartphone and donating US$0.50 or more. The ShareTheMeal community recently contributed to WFP’s famine response in South Sudan, where users shared 1 million meals with those people in need in just over one month.

Recent features in Google Play and the Apple App Store, including Apple’s current ‘Ramadan Essentials,’ allow ShareTheMeal to reinforce its mission to engage as many smartphone users as possible in WFP’s efforts to achieve Zero Hunger.

On 18 May, ShareTheMeal won the 2017 Google Play Award for Best Social Impact app during Google’s I/O conference. WFP’s app has engaged a new generation in supporting the fight against hunger. More than 830,000 people have downloaded the app and shared over 13 million meals with thousands of vulnerable children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Malawi and Cameroon.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

ShareTheMeal allows smartphone users to share their meals with hungry people via a free iOS and Android app. ShareTheMeal is an initiative of the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator.